Season series: This is the first of two meetings between the Florida Panthers and St. Louis Blues. David Backes scored twice and Jaroslav Halak made 20 saves in their most recent matchup, a 4-1 win by the Blues at Scottrade Center on Nov. 17, 2011.

Big story: Each team will be seeking a 2-0 start; it would especially mean a lot to the Panthers, who finished at the bottom of the NHL standings a season ago. Tim Thomas, who made a triumphant return to the League on Thursday, could be in line for a second consecutive start.

Team Scope:

Panthers: It was all about the old and the new in Florida's 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center that got the season off to a flying start.

Thomas, who turns 40 in April, stopped 25 of 27 shots in his first NHL game in over 17 months and first not wearing a Boston Bruins sweater. Veteran Scott Gomez scored the opening goal for the Panthers, but with the team trailing 2-1 in the third, Aleksander Barkov, the No. 2 pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, became the youngest player in 69 years to score an NHL goal. That tied it, and a pair of late goals from Marcel Goc made the difference.

"It had a lot of aspects to it," coach Kevin Dineen said of the win. "Our young players coming through and making a difference, a really nice goal, our veteran guys stepping up when they needed to. It was a mixture of things. That was a hard-fought win."

Blues: Expectations are far greater in St. Louis this season, and the Blues took step one toward meeting them with Thursday's 4-2 win over the Nashville Predators in which they chased goalie Pekka Rinne less than 10 minutes into the first period.

Backes started the scoring with a power-play goal at 2:05, then Vladimir Sobotka and T.J. Oshie followed to give the home team a commanding lead. The Predators would close the gap to one, but another power-play goal from Alexander Steen capped the offense as Halak made 28 saves.

"It was pretty ideal the first 10 minutes," Backes said. "I don't know if we got complacent, but that level … we played pretty well that first 10 and maybe took a step back.

"They're a team that just keeps coming at you, they found a couple and kind of woke us up there where we had to play our style of hockey. It's a result we love and it's one step along the way."

Who's hot: Goc had his first two-goal game for the Panthers, his last coming Nov. 18, 2010, for the Predators against the Montreal Canadiens. … In addition to his goal, Sobotka delivered two hits and won 78 percent of his faceoffs in the Blues' win.

Injury report: Florida forwards Nick Bjugstad (concussion), Steven Pinizzotto (hip) and Sean Bergenheim (hip/abdomen) are on injured reserve. Defenseman Ed Jovanovski (hip) is day-to-day. Goalie Scott Clemmensen (knee) is expected to report to San Antonio of the American Hockey League for conditioning purposes.

Is that second one a question? You don't seem like the type to question (frank)ing anything.

Anyway, GO BLUES!

VIVA LA FLASHCHAT!!!!!!!

_________________2014-2015 Official LGB Sponsor of T.J. Oshie2013-2014 Official LGB Sponsor of Kevin Shattenkirk2012-2013 Official LGB Sponsor of Ryan Reaves2011-2012 Official LGB Sponsor of Vladimir Tarasenko2010-2011 Official LGB Sponsor of Vladimir Tarasenko

_________________2014-2015 Official LGB Sponsor of T.J. Oshie2013-2014 Official LGB Sponsor of Kevin Shattenkirk2012-2013 Official LGB Sponsor of Ryan Reaves2011-2012 Official LGB Sponsor of Vladimir Tarasenko2010-2011 Official LGB Sponsor of Vladimir Tarasenko

I missed the first period, but no worries. What I saw in the 2nd and 3rd was equivalent to 6 games worth last season. What a display!

The boys biggest problem has been offensive production. Over the 1st two games that has been a non-issue. As long as they keep playing aggressively with the puck, this season could be something special. Of course they could also go the next 7 games and score 5 goals The question, I guess, is this: are the Blues that good or are the Panthers that awful?

I think the Panthers are that awful, but we MIGHT be that good too. I've been really impressed with our puck movement this year. It's a bit premature to proclaim the offense as being fixed, but I like what I'm seeing.

Just complete domination from the Blues. I love the amount of 'Tic-tac-toe' goals we've seen so far this season too. At least 3 or 4 of them. It's good to see guys moving the puck, trying to find the open man, and then successfully converting the chances too. And even better than that, the Blues have scored 11 goals and there's been 10 different goal scorers. There are threats to score all over the roster and that's a great thing.

I liked the game, but I wont get all excited after the trashing of the Panthers. I want to see what they can do against a real team on Wednesday.

_________________2009-2010 LGB Official Sponsor of Roman Polak2010-2011 LGB Official Sponsor of the Brad Boyes 2011 2nd round draft pick.2011-2012 LGB Official Sponsor of "The Russian" Evgeny Grachev2013 LGB Official Sponsor of David Perron 2013-2014 LGB Official Sponsor of Jay Bouwmeester

Who is online

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum